Climate change impeding recovery of Earth’s ozone layer, warns scientist

ISTANBUL (AA) – Just as Earth’s ozone layer is slowly recovering from a hazardous hole found in it nearly 40 years ago, this recovery is being impeded by the impact of climate change, said Jonathan Shanklin, a meteorologist at the British Antarctic Survey and one of the scientists who first discovered the ozone hole.

Marking Sept. 16, International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer, Shanklin told Anadolu Agency that this year’s ozone hole, which tends to expand between August and October while retreating from November to December, is just forming and is expected to continue growing over the coming weeks.

“Over the last 20 years, observations from space and the ground suggest that a slow recovery is underway,” Shanklin said. “Although on average a recovery is underway, individual years can still experience severe ozone holes, and this was the case in both 2020 and 2021.”

Touching on factors that impede or slow down the recovery of the ozone layer, Shanklin said one is the release of novel ozone-depleting gases into the atmosphere. “Whilst these can be added to the protocol, it may take a decade for the effects to be sufficiently clear-cut for them to be added to the prohibited list.”

Shanklin said climate change is another factor impeding the recovery of the ozone layer, explaining: “There are feedbacks between climate change and the ozone hole, with each affecting the other.”

Shanklin criticized governments for not taking enough action to cut emissions of greenhouse gasses.

Underlining the interrelatedness of environmental problems, Shanklin said, “We also need to consider that there is not just one environmental crisis, but a multitude of them, which are all linked,” referring to air pollution, soil degradation, and biodiversity loss in particular.